KATHMANDU: The Government of Japan on Tuesday agreed to extend a grant assistance of ¥680,000,000, equivalent to NRs.566,440,000, to Nepal for Food Aid (KR) in Japan’s fiscal year 2009.

At a programme in the capital, Tatsuo Mizuno, Ambassador of Japan to Nepal, and Rameshore Prasad Khanal, Secretary for Ministry of Finance signed and exchanged the notes on behalf of their respective governments.

The Assistance is provided with the basic objective of enabling Nepal to procure rice and supply it to the food deficit districts. The Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) will distribute it through its national distribution network.

Japan has been providing Food Aid which is the oldest scheme of Japan to Nepal for the last several years. Japan has extended cumulatively Food Aid to Nepal, worth 8.94 billion Japanese Yen in fiscal year 2009.

Envoy Mizuno expressed his wish that food assistance would help Nepal to address the urgent need in food deficit districts and ease the local people’s daily life. It is believed that it would further contribute to the peace process in Nepal. The envoy also expressed his belief that the Food Aid shows the Japanese people’s wishes for further improvement of the well-being of the Nepali people.